1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc drive, and more particularly, to an optical disc drive that can be installed horizontally and vertically.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, optical disc drives are devices which write or read information by radiating light on an optical medium (hereinafter, referred to as a disc), such as a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD).
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a conventional optical disc drive. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along a line I-I′ of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a tray 20 is installed to slide on a frame 10. The frame 10 includes a spindle motor 31 which rotates a disc 50, and a deck portion 30 on which an optical pickup portion 32 that slides in a radial direction of the disc 50 and has access to the disc 50 is installed. The deck portion 30 ascends and descends with respect to a bottom surface of the tray 20. In addition, the frame 10 further includes a loading motor 13 which loads/unloads the tray 20. A cover 40 is disposed on a top surface of the frame 10, and a clamper 41 is disposed in the cover 40.
When the disc 50 is mounted on a first mounting surface 21 of the tray 20 and the loading motor 13 is rotated, the tray 20 is slid in a direction A of FIG. 1 and loaded in the optical disc drive. After the tray 20 is loaded, the deck portion 30 ascends. A bottom surface 51 of the disc 50 contacts a turntable 34 disposed on a shaft of the spindle motor 31, and the disc 50 ascends with the deck portion 30. If the clamper 41 contacts a top surface 52 of the disc 50, the disc 50 is supported by the turntable 34 and the clamper 41. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the disc 50 is spaced upwardly by a predetermined gap from the first mounting surface 21. In this state, as the spindle motor 31 is rotated, the disc 50 is rotated, and the optical pickup portion 32 slides in the radial direction of the disc 50, has access to the disc 50, and writes and/or reproduces information. An operation of unloading the disc 50 is performed in a reverse order to the above-described loading operation.
In general, as shown in FIG. 1, an optical disc drive is installed horizontally. However, in FIG. 3, the optical disc drive of FIGS. 1 and 2 is shown in the case of vertical installation. When the optical disc drive is installed vertically, a protrusion jaw 23 that extends from a top surface of the tray 20 above the first mounting surface 21 is formed, so as to prevent the disc 50 from deviating from the first mounting surface 21 when the disc 50 is loaded. The disc 50 contacts only the turntable 34 while in an ascending range (D1 of FIG. 2) until the top surface 52 of the disc 50 contacts the clamper 41 after the bottom surface 51 of the disc 50 contacts the turntable 34. Thus, when the optical disc drive is installed vertically, the disc 50 may be deviated from the turntable 34.
The disc 50 used in the optical disc drive has a diameter of 120 mm. However, recently, a disc 60 having a diameter of 80 mm has been widely used in the optical disc drive. As shown in FIG. 4, a second mounting surface 22 stepped from the first mounting surface 21 downwards, is formed in the tray 20 so as to mount the disc 60. If the disc 60 is loaded in a state where the optical disc drive is installed vertically, as described above, the disc 60 may be deviated from the second mounting surface 22 when the tray 20 is loaded. In addition, since the second mounting surface 22 is stepped from the first mounting surface 21 downwards, an ascending range D2, extending to a top surface 62 of the disc 60 contacts the clamper 41 after a bottom surface 61 of the disc 60 contacts the turntable 34, is larger than the ascending range D1 of FIG. 2 when the disc 50 having a diameter of 120 mm is mounted. Accordingly, a possibility that the disc 60 is deviated from the turntable 34 before the disc 60 contacts the clamper 41 is very high.